Method and apparatus for managing multimedia communication recordings

ABSTRACT

According to embodiments described in the specification, a method and apparatus for managing multimedia communication recordings in a mobile electronic device are provided. The method comprises recording a multimedia communication and storing the recording in a memory of the mobile electronic device; detecting at least one event indicating an interruption in the communication; detecting at least one further event indicating that the communication has resumed; responsive to detecting at least one further event, inserting an audible tag in the recording, the audible tag including at least one descriptor for the at least one event.

FIELD

The specification relates generally to multimedia communicationrecordings, and specifically to a method and apparatus for managingmultimedia communication recordings.

BACKGROUND

Mobile devices such as cellular phones and smart phones are widely usedfor various forms of communications, including, for example, voice callsand text messages. As mobile devices are developed with greater andgreater computational resources, additional features are being providedto such devices, such as the ability to make and store recordings.However, the capabilities of these devices with respect to themanagement of such recordings remains limited.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments are described with reference to the following figures, inwhich:

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic block diagram of a mobile electronic device,according to a non-limiting embodiment;

FIG. 2 depicts a flowchart of a method for managing multimediacommunication recordings, according to a non-limiting embodiment;

FIG. 3 a depicts a schematic representation of a repository ofpre-recorded audio files stored at the mobile electronic device of FIG.1, according to a non-limiting embodiment;

FIG. 3 b depicts a schematic representation of an audible tag generatedfrom the repository of FIG. 3 a, according to a non-limiting embodiment;

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of a method for managing multimediacommunication recordings, according to an additional non-limitingembodiment;

FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart of a method for managing multimediacommunication recordings, according to a further non-limitingembodiment; and

FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart of a method for managing multimediacommunication recordings, according to a still further non-limitingembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

According to an aspect of the specification, a method of managingmultimedia communication recordings in a mobile electronic device isprovided, comprising: recording a multimedia communication and storingthe recording in a memory of the mobile electronic device; detecting atleast one event indicating an interruption in the communication;detecting at least one further event indicating that the communicationhas resumed; and, responsive to detecting at least one further event,inserting an audible tag in the recording, the audible tag including atleast one descriptor for the at least one event.

According to a further aspect of the specification, a mobile electronicdevice is provided, comprising: at least one input device; acommunications interface; a memory for storing a recording of amultimedia communication; a processor interconnected with the at leastone input device, the communications interface and the memory; theprocessor being configured to provide the multimedia communication tothe memory for storage, and to detect at least one event indicating aninterruption in the communication; the processor being furtherconfigured to detect at least one further event indicating that thecommunication has resumed; the processor being further configured,responsive to detecting at least one further event, to insert an audibletag in the recording, the audible tag including at least one descriptorfor the at least one event.

According to yet another aspect of the specification, a computerreadable storage medium is provided, storing computer readableprogramming instructions executable by a processor of a mobileelectronic device for causing the mobile electronic device to implementa method comprising: recording a multimedia communication and storingthe recording in a memory of the mobile electronic device; detecting atleast one event indicating an interruption in the communication;detecting at least one further event indicating that the communicationhas resumed; and, responsive to detecting at least one further event,inserting an audible tag in the recording, the audible tag including atleast one descriptor for the at least one event.

FIG. 1 depicts a mobile electronic device 100 for managing multimediacommunication recordings. In the present embodiment, mobile electronicdevice 100 is based on the computing environment and functionality of ahand-held wireless communication device. It will be understood, however,that mobile electronic device 100 is not limited to a hand-held wirelesscommunication device. As will now be apparent to those skilled in theart, a variety of mobile electronic devices can be used, such ascellular telephones, smart telephones, personal digital assistants,media players and laptop computers. Mobile electronic device 100includes a processor 102 interconnected with a memory 104. It will nowbe apparent to those skilled in the art that memory 104 can benon-volatile memory (e.g. read only memory (“ROM”), ElectricallyEraseable Programmable Read Only Memory (“EEPROM”), flash memory,magnetic computer storage devices, optical discs), volatile memory (e.g.Random Access Memory (“RAM”)) or any suitable combination thereof.

Mobile electronic device 100 also includes a communications interface106 interconnected with processor 102. Communications interface 106provides wireless or wired communication capabilities, or both wirelessand wired communication capabilities, to portable electronic device 100,by way of a link 108 connecting portable electronic device 100 to anetwork 110. In the case of wireless communication, link 108 can be awireless link based on core mobile network infrastructure (e.g. GlobalSystem for Mobile communications (“GSM”); Code Division Multiple Access(“CDMA”); CDMA 2000; 3G; 4G). Link 108 can also be based on wirelesslocal area network (“WLAN”) infrastructures such as the Institute forElectrical and Electronic Engineers (“IEEE”) 802.11 Standard (and itsvariants), Bluetooth or the like, or hybrids thereof.

Mobile electronic device 100 also includes one or more output devicessuch as a display device 110 and a speaker 112. Additional outputdevices are also contemplated, such as a Light Emitting Diode (“LED”)indicator (not shown) and a motor for vibrational output (not shown).Other output devices will also occur to those skilled in the art.Display device 110 comprises circuitry 114 for generating a visiblerepresentation 116. It will now be apparent to those skilled in the artthat display device 110 can include a flat panel display (e.g. liquidcrystal display (“LCD”), plasma, organic light emitting diode (“OLED”)display and the like), a cathode ray tube (“CRT”), and the like. Speaker112, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, can becontrolled by processor 102 to emit audible signals in the form of airpressure waves based, for example, on digital representations of soundstored in memory 104.

Mobile electronic device 100 further includes one or more input devicesfor receiving input, such as a keypad 118 and a pointing device (or“pointer”) 120. Pointing device 120 can be, for example, a trackball. Itwill now be apparent that in some embodiments, either or both of keypad118 and pointer 120 can also be provided by a touchscreen integratedwith display device 110. In such embodiments, circuitry 114 of displaydevice 110 can be controlled by processor 102 to generate arepresentation 116 of a keypad (i.e. a “virtual keypad”). Input can bereceived at the virtual keypad via the touchscreen integrated withdisplay device 110.

As a further input device, mobile electronic device 100 can include amicrophone 122. An audio stream generated by microphone 122 in responseto sound captured at microphone 122 from the vicinity of mobileelectronic device 100 can be provided to processor 102 and othercomponents of mobile electronic device 100, as will be described belowin greater detail. The audio stream generated by microphone 122 can be,for example, a digital representation of the sound captured bymicrophone 122. Additional input devices may also occur to those skilledin the art. For example, mobile electronic device 100 can include acamera (not shown) for capturing images or video. The various componentsof mobile electronic device 100 are interconnected, for example via acommunication bus (not shown).

Mobile electronic device 100 also includes a recording application 124,which can be stored in memory 104. Recording application 124 comprisesprogramming instructions for execution by processor 102. In a presentembodiment, recording application 124 can be stored in memory 104 ofmobile electronic device 100. It will be understood, however, that inother exemplary embodiments, recording application 124 can be maintainedin any of a variety of computer readable storage media, including butnot limited to removable diskettes, optical media such as compact discs(“CDs”) and digital video discs (“DVDs”), hard drive discs, USB drivesand the like. The computer readable medium storing the programminginstructions of recording application 124 can also be remote to mobileelectronic device 100, and the programming instructions can betransmittable to mobile electronic device 100 via interface 106, link108 and network 110.

Upon processing recording application 124, making appropriate use ofmemory 104 where necessary, portable electronic device 100 is configuredto manage recordings, as will be discussed in greater detail below.

It will be appreciated that mobile electronic device 100 can begenerally enabled to send and receive a variety of communications,including multimedia communications such as voice calls and videoconferences. For example, voice calls can be conducted to and frommobile electronic device 100 via communications interface 106, link 108and network 110. During such voice calls, an incoming audio stream canbe received at communications interface 106 and provided to processor102. An outgoing audio stream can also be received at processor 102 frommicrophone 122. Processor 102 can then control speaker 112, as mentionedearlier, to render the incoming audio stream as audible output frommobile electronic device 100, while providing the outgoing audio streamto communications interface for delivery via link 108 and network 110.

Of particular note, processor 102, when executing the programminginstructions of recording application 124, can also be configured toprovide the incoming and outgoing audio streams to memory 104 forstorage as a file or recording 126. It will now be apparent that similarrecording capabilities can be provided to processor 102 via execution ofrecording application 124 for other types of multimedia communications.For example, in the case of a video conference, incoming and outgoingvideo streams can also be stored in memory 104 as recording 126.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a method 200 is depicted for managingmultimedia communication recordings in a mobile electronic device 100according to an exemplary non-limiting embodiment. In order to assist inthe explanation of method 200, method 200 will be described inconjunction with its exemplary performance on mobile electronic device100. The following discussion of method 200 will also lead to a furtherunderstanding of mobile electronic device 100 and the various componentsthereof. It will be appreciated, however, that mobile electronic device100 and method 200 can be varied, and need not operate exactly asdescribed herein in conjunction with each other.

Method 200 begins at block 205 with the recording of a multimediacommunication, such as a voice call. As discussed above, processor 102executing recording application 124 is configured to store copies ofincoming and outgoing audio streams of the voice call in memory 104 asrecording 126. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatalthough only one recording 126 is shown, being a single file containingboth incoming and outgoing audio streams, in other embodiments (notshown), the incoming and outgoing streams can be stored as separaterecordings in memory 104.

Method 200 continues at block 210. In general, processor 102 isconfigured to monitor the voice call or any other communication forevents, and to record data concerning any detected events (the type ofevent, the time of occurrence and the like). Such recorded data can bestored in memory 104. At block 210, processor 102 is configured, viaexecution of recording application 124, to determine whether an eventindicating an interruption (or, “interrupt event”) in the voice call hasbeen detected. Processor 102 can be configured to detect interruptevents that originate at mobile electronic device 100 (such, as forexample, an input received at processor 102 from keypad 118 indicatingthat the voice call has been placed “on hold” so that mobile electronicdevice 100 can answer another call or attend to some other task) as wellas events that originate remotely from mobile electronic device 100. Forexample, processor 102 can determine, at block 210, that an interruptevent has been received via communications interface 106 from network110. Such remotely-originating events can indicate, for example, thatthe voice call has been placed “on hold” by another participant in thevoice call.

If the determination at block 210 is negative, method 200 waits at block210. It will be appreciated that when block 210 is being performedsimultaneously with block 205, if the voice call is terminated, nofurther determinations will be made at block 210.

If the determination at block 210 is affirmative, method 200 proceeds toblock 215, where processor 102 is configured, via execution of recordingapplication 124, to determine whether a further event indicating thatthe voice call has been resumed (or, “resume event”) has been detected.As with block 210, resume events detected in connection with block 215can include events that originate both locally to and remotely frommobile electronic device 100.

If the determination at block 215 is negative, indicating that theinterruption persists, method 200 waits at block 215. If, on the otherhand, the determination at block 215 is affirmative, method 200 proceedsto block 220.

At block 220, processor 102 is configured, via execution of recordingapplication 124, to insert an audible tag into recording 126 for atleast one of the interrupt events determined to have been detected atblock 210. It is noted that an “audible tag” as used herein is arepresentation (such as a digital representation) of sound. Thus,speaker 112 can be controlled by processor 102 to emit air pressurewaves corresponding to the sound represented by an audible tag. Eachaudible tag can be placed, or inserted, in recording 126 at a positioncorresponding to the occurrence of the respective event the audible tagdescribes. Each audible tag can also include at least one eventdescriptor, based on data recorded by processor 102 for storage inmemory 104 upon detection of interrupt and resume events. A variety ofdescriptors will occur to those skilled in the art. For example, anaudible tag can include any combination of an audible indication of thetime and date of occurrence for an event, of a duration of the event(e.g. how long the voice call remained on hold, determined by processor102 as the time elapsed between detection of the interrupt event and theresume event), and an identification of the participant device thatinitiated the event. Processor 102 can be configured to determine anysuitable descriptors for detected events, making use of memory 104 asnecessary. For example, the duration of an “on hold” event can bedetermined at processor 102 based on the difference between the time atwhich the interrupt event was detected and the time at which the resumeevent was detected.

Audible tags can be generated by processor 102 for insertion intorecording 126 from a repository 128 of pre-recorded audio files or“sound-bites” stored in memory 104 of portable electronic device 100. Itwill now be apparent that the sound-bites of repository 128 can berecordings of speech recorded at an earlier time (not necessarily atmobile electronic device 100) and stored in memory 104. Referring now toFIGS. 3 a and 3 b, a schematic depiction of an exemplary repository 128is provided. FIG. 3 a depicts a plurality of exemplary pre-recordedsound-bites for various numbers, units of time, event descriptions andso on. FIG. 3 b depicts an exemplary audible tag 300 generated byprocessor 102, executing recording application 124, by combiningappropriate ones of the pre-recorded sound-bites based on informationdetermined by processor 102 relating to the particular event detected atblock 210 and being described by audible tag 300. In the example of FIG.3 b, audible tag 300 indicates that the voice call being recorded torecording 126 was placed on hold for one minute and nineteen seconds.Audible tag 300 thus provides an event description that can be renderedby speaker 112 under the control of processor 102 (or by any othersuitable speaker) as audible air pressure waves. FIG. 3 b also depictssegments 302, 304 of recording 126, showing that audible tag 300 hasbeen inserted within recording 126 at a position corresponding to theoccurrence of the event. In the example of FIG. 3 b, the “on hold” eventbegun (i.e. was detected by processor 102 at block 210) at the pointindicated at 306.

It will now be apparent that repository 128 can include any of a widevariety of pre-recorded audio files or sound bites. Sound-bites can alsobe provided in a variety of languages, and the language used to generatean audible tag such as audible tag 300 can be selected based on alanguage setting of a user profile (not shown) stored in mobileelectronic device 100.

It will now be apparent to those skilled in the art that blocks 210, 215and 220 of method 200 can be repeated for as many events as necessaryduring a single communication. It will also be apparent from the abovedescription that performance of blocks 210 and 215 can be simultaneouswith performance of block 205. That is, interrupt and resume events canbe detected by processor 102 during the communication, while processor102 is also recording and storing the communication in memory 104. Block220 can be performed simultaneously with block 205, or at a later time(for example, after the communication has been terminated), as will bediscussed in greater detail below. It will be appreciated that once thecommunication has been terminated, the performance of block 205 willalso be terminated, and no further determinations will be necessary atblocks 210 and 215.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a method 400 is depicted for managingmultimedia communication recordings in a mobile electronic deviceaccording to a present non-limiting embodiment. In order to assist inthe explanation of method 400, method 400 will be described inconjunction with its exemplary performance on mobile electronic device100. The following discussion of method 400 will also lead to a furtherunderstanding of mobile electronic device 100 and the various componentsthereof. It will be appreciated, however, that mobile electronic device100 and method 400 can be varied, and need not operate exactly asdescribed herein in conjunction with each other.

Method 400 begins at block 405, at which processor 102 is configured,via execution of recording application 124, to begin recording acommunication (such as a voice call or video conference) and storing therecording in memory 104. It will be appreciated that block 405 can beperformed automatically in response to the initiation of thecommunication, or can be performed responsive to receiving input, forexample via keypad 118. In the present exemplary performance of method400, the communication is a voice call, and performance of block 405results in the incoming and outgoing audio streams being provided tomemory 104 for storage in recording 126.

Method 400 continues at block 410, at which processor 102 can beconfigured, via execution of recording application 124, to determinewhether the voice call has been terminated. If the determination atblock 410 is affirmative, method 400 proceeds to block 415, where therecording is ended (that is, no further data is added to recording 126in memory 104).

If the determination at block 410 is negative, method 400 proceeds toblock 420. Processor 102 is generally configured to monitorcommunications for events, and to record data concerning any detectedevents (the type of event, the time of occurrence and the like). Suchrecorded data can be stored in memory 104. Similarly to block 210 ofmethod 200, at block 420 processor 102 is configured to determinewhether an interrupt event has been detected. If the determination atblock 420 is negative, method 400 returns to block 410. If thedetermination at block 420 is affirmative, on the other hand, method 400proceeds to block 425.

At block 425, processor 102 is configured to pause the recording of thecommunication in response to an interrupt event detection. That is, atblock 425 processor 102 is configured to temporarily cease providing theincoming and outgoing audio streams to memory 104 for storage inrecording 126. As a result, no further data is added to recording 126while the recording is paused. Having paused the recording, method 400proceeds to block 430.

At block 430, similarly to block 215 of method 200, processor 102 isconfigured to determine whether a resume event has been detected,indicating that the interruption has passed. If the determination atblock 430 is negative, method 400 waits at block 430. If thedetermination at block 430 is affirmative, method 400 proceeds to block435.

At block 435, processor 102 is configured to generate an audible tag asdescribed above, including at least one descriptor of the interruptevent detected at block 420. Processor 102 is also configured to insertthe audible tag within recording 126. In particular, the audible tag isappended to the end of recording 126, which corresponds to the positionmarking the occurrence of the interrupt event (as the recording has beenpaused since detection of the interrupt event).

Method 400 then proceeds to block 440, where the recording is resumed.It will be appreciated that processor 102 is configured to resume therecording by once again providing the incoming and outgoing audiostreams to memory 104 for storing in recording 126. Method 400 thenreturns to block 410, and if the voice call has not been terminated,awaits detection of further events.

It will now be apparent that while method 400 explicitly checks fortermination of the communication at block 410, the recording can beended as at block 415 if the communication is terminated at any otherpoint during the performance of method 400. For example, if an interruptevent is detected at block 420, and processor 102 determines that thecommunication has been terminated before a resume event is detected atblock 430, processor 102 can be configured to proceed directly to block415. In some embodiments (not shown), processor 102 can be configured togenerate and append an audible tag including at least one descriptor forthe interrupt event prior to proceeding to block 415.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a method 500 is depicted for managingmultimedia communication recordings in a mobile electronic deviceaccording to a further non-limiting embodiment. In order to assist inthe explanation of method 500, method 500 will be described inconjunction with its exemplary performance on mobile electronic device100. The following discussion of method 500 will also lead to a furtherunderstanding of mobile electronic device 100 and the various componentsthereof. It will be appreciated, however, that mobile electronic device100 and method 500 can be varied, and need not operate exactly asdescribed herein in conjunction with each other.

Method 500 begins at block 505, at which processor 102 begins recordinga multimedia communication (such as a voice call or video conference).Method 500 then proceeds to block 510, at which a determination is madeas to whether the communication has been terminated. If thedetermination is negative, method 500 proceeds to block 515.

At block 515, processor 102 can be configured to detect an interruptevent, as discussed above in connection with methods 200 and 400. If thedetermination at block 515 is negative (i.e. if no interrupt event hasbeen detected) then method 500 returns to block 510. If thedetermination at block 515 is affirmative, method 500 proceeds to block520.

At block 520, processor 102 can be configured to pause the recording,followed by performance of block 525. At block 525, processor 102 can beconfigured to detect a further event indicating that the communicationhas been resumed (i.e. a resume event), as discussed above in connectionwith methods 200 and 400. If the determination at block 525 is negative,method 500 waits at block 525. If the determination at block 525 isaffirmative, method 500 proceeds to block 530.

At block 530, processor 102 is configured, via execution of recordingapplication 124, to generate a bookmark and append the bookmark torecording 126. Processor 102 is also configured to then resume therecording of the communication. A “bookmark” as used herein is intendedto encompass a variety of data that cannot be rendered into audible airpressure waves by a speaker such as speaker 112 under the control ofprocessor 102. For example, a bookmark can be text or numerical dataincluding at least one descriptor of the interrupt event detected atblock 515. It will now be apparent that the generation of a bookmark atblock 530 does not require a repository such as repository 128. Anexemplary bookmark can include an indication of the time at which theinterrupt event was detected, an identifier indicating the type ofinterrupt event detected, and an indication of the time at which theresume event was detected.

Following the appending of the bookmark to recording 126 at block 530,method 500 returns to block 510. If the communication has not beenterminated, additional events can then be detected as described above.

If the determination at block 510 is affirmative, method 500 proceeds toblock 535, at which processor 102 can be configured to terminate therecording begun at block 505. Method 500 then proceeds to block 540. Atblock 540, processor 102 can be configured to traverse recording 126 todetermine the locations of any bookmarks in recording 126. For eachbookmark, processor 102 can be configured to generate an audible tag, asdescribed earlier, based on the information contained within therespective bookmark, and insert the audible tag at the position of thebookmark. The bookmark can then be deleted from recording 126, though itwill be appreciated that this is not a necessity.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a method 600 is depicted for managingmultimedia communication recordings in a mobile electronic deviceaccording to a further non-limiting embodiment. In order to assist inthe explanation of method 600, method 600 will be described inconjunction with its exemplary performance on mobile electronic device100. The following discussion of method 600 will also lead to a furtherunderstanding of mobile electronic device 100 and the various componentsthereof. It will be appreciated, however, that mobile electronic device100 and method 600 can be varied, and need not operate exactly asdescribed herein in conjunction with each other.

Method 600 begins at block 605, at which processor 102 begins recordinga multimedia communication (such as a voice call or video conference).Method 600 then proceeds to block 610, at which a determination is madeas to whether the communication has been terminated. If thedetermination is negative, method 600 proceeds to block 615.

At block 615, processor 102 can be configured to detect an interruptevent, as discussed above in connection with methods 200, 400 and 500.If the determination at block 615 is negative (i.e. if no interruptevent has been detected) then method 600 returns to block 610. If thedetermination at block 615 is affirmative, method 600 proceeds to block620.

At block 620, processor 102 can be configured to add or append an entryto a log. Returning briefly to FIG. 1, a log 130 can be stored in memory104. Referring again to FIG. 6, the entry appended to log 130 byprocessor 102 at block 620 can include information describing theinterrupt event detected at block 615 (for example, an indication of thetime of occurrence and type of the event).

Method 600 then proceeds to block 625. At block 625, processor 102 canbe configured to detect a further event indicating that thecommunication has been resumed (i.e. a resume event), as discussed abovein connection with methods 200, 400 and 500. If the determination atblock 625 is negative, method 600 waits at block 625. If thedetermination at block 625 is affirmative, method 600 proceeds to block630.

At block 630, processor 102 can be configured, via execution ofrecording application 124, to append a further entry to log 130. Thefurther entry can include, for example, an indication of the time atwhich the resume event was detected or an amount of time elapsed betweendetection of the interrupt and resume events at blocks 615 and 625,respectively.

Method 600 then returns to block 610. If the communication has not beenterminated, additional events can then be detected as described above.If, on the other hand, the determination at block 610 is affirmative(i.e. the communication has been terminated), method 600 proceeds toblock 635, at which processor 102 can be configured to end therecording. Proceeding then to block 640, processor 102 can be configuredto traverse log 130 and, for each entry describing an interrupt event,to generate and insert an audible tag at the corresponding location inrecording 126. Processor 102 can also, at block 640, be configured toremove “blank space” between respective interrupt and resume events,thus shortening recording 126 by an amount of time substantiallyequivalent to the difference between the length of the interruption andthe length of the audible tag.

In some embodiments (not shown), processor 102 can also be configured toclear the contents of log 130 following performance of block 640,releasing a portion of memory 104 for other uses (such as further logsfor later communications, for example). In some other exemplaryembodiments (not shown), block 620 can be omitted, and an entry can beappended to log 130 at block 630 which describes both the interrupt andresume events. It will now be apparent that such a log entry can containsimilar information to that contained in the bookmarks of method 500.

Additionally, in some embodiments of any of methods 200, 400, 500 and600, an introductory audible tag can also be inserted at the beginningof recording 126. The introductory audible tag can be generated in thesame way as other audible tags, and can include, for example,indications of the date and time, as well as the parties participatingin the communication. It will be appreciated that such data can also beincluded in any or all of the audible tags associated with events, asdescribed above. The introductory audible tag can be inserted withinrecording 126 at the initiation of the communication (for example, atblocks 205, 405, 505, or 605), or at a later time. For example, theintroductory audible tag can be inserted following the termination ofthe communication.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in some embodiments, thefunctionality of recording application 124 can be implemented usingpre-programmed hardware or firmware elements (e.g., application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), electrically erasable programmableread-only memories (EEPROMs), etc.), or other related components.

Various advantages will now occur to those skilled in the art. Forexample, the use of audible tags allows for reduced usage ofcomputational resources in mobile electronic devices. By conveying thenecessary information in audible form, no additional resources areconsumed than would have been in any case simply by playing back therecording (for instance, via speaker 112). In contrast, approaches whichrely on textual bookmarks embedded within an audible file that must bedisplayed (for example, by display 110) make increased demands oncomputational and battery resources of the device.

Other advantages will also occur to those skilled in the art. Forexample, the method of FIG. 6 reduces the storage space required withinmemory 104 by eliminating blank space from recordings. If a recording istransmitted over network 110, this reduced storage requirement thentranslates into reduced pressure on network resources, as well as lowerdrain on battery power for mobile electronic device 100 (due to thelower amount of data to be transmitted by interface 106). Additionally,the methods of FIGS. 4 and 5 allow for such reduced use of storage spaceas well as further reduced computational demands. In particular, pausingthe recording removes the need for post-processing of the recording toremove blank space.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that there are yet morealternative implementations and modifications possible for implementingthe embodiments, and that the above implementations and examples areonly illustrations of one or more embodiments. In some embodiments (notshown), elements of any one of methods 200, 400, 500 and 600 can becombined with elements of any other of methods 200, 400, 500 and 600.For example, method 200 can make use of bookmarks as described inconnection with method 500 or log 130 as discussed in connection withmethod 600. Method 200 can also, in some embodiments, pause therecording (as in methods 400 and 500) upon determination that aninterrupt event has been detected. The scope, therefore, is only to belimited by the claims appended hereto.

1. A method of managing multimedia communication recordings in a mobileelectronic device, comprising: recording a multimedia communication andstoring the recording in a memory of the mobile electronic device;detecting at least one event indicating an interruption in thecommunication; detecting at least one further event indicating that thecommunication has resumed; and, responsive to detecting at least onefurther event, inserting an audible tag in the recording, the audibletag including at least one descriptor for the at least one event.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to detecting the atleast one event, pausing the recording; responsive to inserting theaudible tag, resuming the recording.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: storing the recording in the memory in response to aninitiation of the communication; responsive to determining that thecommunication has terminated, terminating the recording.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the multimedia communication is a voice call andrecording the voice call comprises providing incoming and outgoing audiostreams of the voice call to the memory for storage.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one event is received at one of an inputdevice of the mobile electronic device and a communications interface ofthe mobile electronic device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the atleast one descriptor includes at least one of a date and time of the atleast one event, a description of the event, a duration of the event andan identification of the parties participating in the multimediacommunication.
 7. The method of claim 3, further comprising: responsiveto the initiation of the communication, inserting an introductoryaudible tag at a start of the recording, the introductory audible tagincluding at least one of the date and time, and an identification ofthe parties participating in the communication.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein inserting an audible tag comprises: selecting at least twopre-recorded audio files from a plurality of pre-recorded audio filesstored in the memory; and combining the at least one pre-recorded audiofile to generate the audible tag.
 9. A mobile electronic device,comprising: at least one input device; a communications interface; amemory for storing a recording of a multimedia communication; aprocessor interconnected with the at least one input device, thecommunications interface and the memory; the processor being configuredto provide the multimedia communication to the memory for storage, andto detect at least one event indicating an interruption in thecommunication; the processor being further configured to detect at leastone further event indicating that the communication has resumed; theprocessor being further configured, responsive to detecting at least onefurther event, to insert an audible tag in the recording, the audibletag including at least one descriptor for the at least one event. 10.The mobile electronic device of claim 9, the processor being furtherconfigured to pause the recording, responsive to detecting the at leastone event; the processor being further configured to resume therecording responsive to inserting the audible tag.
 11. The mobileelectronic device of claim 9, the processor being further configured toprovide the multimedia communication to the memory in response to aninitiation of the communication; the processor being further configuredto terminate the recording responsive to determining that thecommunication has terminated.
 12. The mobile electronic device of claim9, wherein the multimedia communication is a voice call and theprocessor is further configured to provide incoming and outgoing audiostreams of the voice call to the memory for storage.
 13. The mobileelectronic device of claim 9, wherein the at least one event is receivedat one of the at least one input device and the communicationsinterface.
 14. The mobile electronic device of claim 9, wherein the atleast one descriptor includes at least one of the date and time of theat least one event, a description of the event, a duration of the eventand an identification of the parties participating in the communication.15. The mobile electronic device of claim 11, the processor beingfurther configured to insert an introductory audible tag at a start ofthe recording responsive to the initiation of the communication, theintroductory audible tag including at least one of the date and time,and an identification of the parties participating in the communication.16. The mobile electronic device of claim 9, the processor beingconfigured to insert the audible tag by selecting at least twopre-recorded audio files from a plurality of pre-recorded audio filesstored in the memory and combining the at least one pre-recorded audiofile to generate the audible tag.
 17. A computer readable storage mediumstoring computer readable programming instructions executable by aprocessor of a mobile electronic device for causing the mobileelectronic device to implement a method comprising: recording amultimedia communication and storing the recording in a memory of themobile electronic device; detecting at least one event indicating aninterruption in the communication; detecting at least one further eventindicating that the communication has resumed; and, responsive todetecting at least one further event, inserting an audible tag in therecording, the audible tag including at least one descriptor for the atleast one event.